1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of nuclear pulse spectroscopy. More particularly, the invention concerns a system that determines the type of nuclear radiation received in a detector by producing a correlation value representative of the statistical cross correlation between the shape of the detector signal and pulse shape data previously stored in memory and characteristic of respective types of radiation. Additionally, the system determines the energy of the radiation by digital integration of the pulse shape.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of nuclear pulse spectroscopy, various types of detectors have been used including scintillation detectors such as Phoswich and NaI detectors, gas filled detectors, and solid state detectors such as SiLi and intrinsic germanium. These detectors are operable for producing electrical output pulses having shapes characteristic of the type of radiation detected such as alpha and beta particles, gamma rays and neutrons.
Various techniques have been used to characterize the shapes of the output pulses including analyses of the time-to-peak and time-from-peak of the waveforms, and pulse energy based upon pulse height. While helpful, the prior art techniques have not been fully adequate for discriminating between the various types of pulse shapes and accurately determining pulse energy. Additionally, the prior art techniques have not been able to produce analyses with the speed required for practical application, especially for producing a spectral analysis for determining the types of materials producing the nuclear emissions.